The present invention relates to a device for connecting a beam to pillars, or similar load-bearing structural elements, for constructing buildings, particularly multi-story buildings, by means of prefabricated concrete components.
In recent years the construction technique that uses prefabricated concrete components has become increasingly widespread, mainly owing to its short completion times with respect to the conventional method of on-site building.
However, in some particular fields the prefabrication technique has been unable to grow fully.
One of these fields is the construction of office or residential buildings, particularly of the multi-story type.
Prefabricated concrete components are in fact currently scarcely applied in this field because prefabricated beams, in order to be able to withstand the loads to which they are subjected, by being coupled to the pillar simply by resting thereon at their ends, have excessively large vertical dimensions.
On-site building is able to minimize the height of the beams in that this construction technique provides uninterrupted continuity between the pillar and the beam.
Prefabrication instead entails, for the various parts that compose the building, a momentary discontinuity which is eliminated only with final assembly. This fact, however, inevitably forces prefabricated beams, as mentioned, to have larger vertical dimensions than beams built on-site.
The prefabrication technique has attempted to solve this drawback by using prestress, which consists in loading the beam by prestressing it so that it bends upward. However, this solution is advantageous with considerable spans, i.e., pillar distances, otherwise the resulting saving in height of the beam, and therefore the cost saving, are negligible.
However, it should be noted that the prefabrication technique allows remarkable speed of construction, in addition to industrial-style production and quality control; moreover, the prefabrication technique allows to build regardless of weather conditions, which can instead heavily affect on-site building, and allows the progress of work to be independent of the curing of the concrete, which greatly slows the construction of multi-story buildings with the conventional technique of on-site building.
In view of the undeniable advantages offered by the prefabrication technique, the need is felt to be able to extend its application also to those fields which, owing to the above described reasons, have as yet been unable to adopt this technique.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a device for connecting a beam to pillars, or similar load-bearing structural elements, for constructing buildings, particularly multi-story buildings, by means of prefabricated concrete components which allows to reduce the height of the beam, although it is prefabricated, without necessarily having to prestress said beam.
Within the scope of this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a device which does not increase the space occupation of the beam and pillars.
Another object of the invention is to provide a device which allows to advantageously use the prefabrication technique in buildings, including multi-story ones, with beams which are significantly shorter than those usually used in industrial construction work.
Another object of the invention is to provide a device which provides a beam-pillar connection which has excellent earthquake resistance.
These and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a device for connecting a beam to pillars, or similar load-bearing bearing structural elements, for constructing buildings, particularly multi-story buildings, by way of prefabricated concrete components, characterized in that it comprises first means for connecting the two end regions of the beam to the pillars and second means for connecting two intermediate regions of the longitudinal extension of the beam to the pillars, said first connection means being constituted by connection means of the interlocking type and said second connection means comprising at least two rigid inclined ties, each of which connects an intermediate region of the beam to a region of the respective pillar which lies at a higher level than the region where the tie is coupled to the beam.